(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an outside rear view mirror for cars provided with a drive transmitting mechanism for electrically swinging its mirror housing relative to the base.
(b) Prior Art
The outside rear view mirrors have been widely used for cars and one of them is disclosed by U.S. Pat. No. 4,213,675. FIGS. 1 and 2 of this patent show the conventional outside rear view mirror, in which FIG. 1 is a vertically-sectioned view thereof and FIG. 2 a partially-sectioned view thereof.
As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the mirror housing (3) is swingably attached to the body (6) by means of a plate-like arm (17) and a screw (15) in the case of this conventional outside rear view mirror (4).
The plate-like arm (17) is engaged with the boss of the mirror housing (3) by means of plural projections. The mirror housing (3), plate-like arm (17) and body (7) are held, pressed against one another, by a spring (38).
In the case of this conventional outside rear view mirror (4), the mirror housing (3) is displaced forward or backward, taking the screw (15) as its center, when the handle (21) is moved forward or backward in FIG. 1. When the handle (21) is rotated, taking the center axis of the plate-like arm (17) as its center, the mirror housing (3) is displaced up and down.
When excessive load is added to the mirror housing (3), the mirror housing (3) is released from the plate-like arm (17) and swung toward the door (2).
The above-described conventional outside rear view mirror (4) is most suitable for use as a device whose range of vision can be adjusted by the handle (21).
As apparent from FIGS. 1 and 2, however, forward or backward displacement of the mirror housing (3) is determined by the amount of handle (21) operation carried out in the car room. This amount of handle (21) operation is limited to a range necessary to adJust the field of vision allowed by the mirror (4). When it is wanted that the mirror housing (3) which is projected outside the car body is swung over the range of adjusting the field of vision and displaced to contact with the car body at the time of transporting or garaging the car, the mirror housing must be forcedly swung against the spring (38) and released from the boss projections (16). Namely, the mirror housing must be brought under such state that impact has been artificially added to the mirror housing (3).
It was therefore needed that the swing operation was carried out outside the car body. In addition, the swing operation was considerably difficult because it must be carried out against the spring which was pressed against the mirror housing (3) and body (7).